File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

JOBS REPORT

NDP government and opposition share divergent views of latest jobs report

May 10, 2024 | 11:15 AM

KAMLOOPS — The latest Stats Canada labour survey reports shows unemployment across the nation held steady in April at 6.1 per cent.

Stats Canada called the April job figures in British Columbia the first significant employment increase in the province since December of last year.

“We are seeing really good results in April,” said BC Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey. “Employment is up by 23,400 jobs compared to last month. Our unemployment rate is the lowest across the country at 5.0 per cent. The national average is 6.1 (per cent), so not only is it below, it’s significantly below.”

Despite the drop in the unemployment rate and increase of more than 24,000 jobs, the opposition is calling the latest update a mirage.

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“The NDP have increased the size of government by almost 160,000 net new positions in the last five years. We have seen the private sector only grow by 46,000 jobs in the last five years,” said BC United Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone. “We are seeing just a massive bloated bureaucracy that obviously has added billions of dollars to the provincial budget which is funded by taxpayers.”

BC United is calling for the government to create a private sector jobs plan, highlighting the track record of the NDP.

“This is not a sustainable jobs picture. This is not how we are going to make sure we have the financial resources to fund health care and services that British Columbians rely upon,” said Stone. “We will continue to shine a bright light on the NDP’s jobs record which, again, is entirely based on part-time jobs in sectors like tourism — which is largely seasonal — and we are seeing the private sector full-time jobs sector get hammered.”

That view of the numbers by Stone varies dramatically from Minister Bailey, who spoke positively of the new jobs created in B.C. last month, including more than 23,000 private sector jobs and 6,300 jobs in the Thompson-Okanagan area.

“This is good news that is dispersed across the province. A couple areas [where] we are seeing particularly strong growth, one of them is information, culture and recreation. We think a lot of that growth is driven by the film sector,” said Bailey.

The other sector seeing growth, according to Bailey, was the tech sector, up 5,900 jobs throughout the province.